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Maungdaw, Arakan – Some Rohingyas from Yey Twin Pyin village of Northern Maungdaw Township in Arakan State were extorted of money by Myanmar’s Border Guard Police (BGP) on false accusation of browsing the internet with Bangladeshi mobile phone.

On December 19th, Border Guard Police from zone (4), No. (10) Outpost arrested two Rohingyas named Molvi Noor Husson s/o Abu Bakkar (Age 28) and Mohammed Ayub s/o Amir Husson (Age 25) from Yey Twin Pyin village in Northern Maungdaw Township. Both of them were falsely accused of browsing the internet with a Bangladesh mobile phone. They were arrested at 8 pm and later released after being extorted of Kyat 450,000 from each person.

Similarly three Rohingyas named Kamal s/o Zakir Ahmed (Age 18), Haroon s/o Hala Bawda (Age 28) and Mufiz s/o Dildar (Age 30) were also arrested for the same accusation. They are still in custody of BGP police. As is common they were tortured at the BGP outpost. The BGP police are demanding Kyat 450,000 from each person for release, according to locals.

In Maungdaw district, even the officials, police, military and BGP police are using Bangladesh mobile phones, but the local Rohingyas are forbidden to do so and even though most of the Rohingyas use the SIM from Myanmar Telecom they are still often falsely accused by the authorities as pretext to extort money. Many Rohingyas in Buthidaung and Maungdaw Township are extorted daily basis on this accusation.